MUSE MONDAY

 Tina Donahue has a brand new release!

They’re fighting for their lives, freedom, and love…in the realm of the dead.

Eeete, a pleasure slave, thought she’d found freedom in an underwater colony until a hated Palace guard abducted her for his carnal pleasure. Swept with him through a portal into E3, she faces danger from the deceased, grotesque monsters, and a dimension where few things are as they seem and nothing can be trusted…including her own desire.

Running from sure death, she comes upon Makam, another guard, sentenced to E3 for treason against their dimension’s depraved ruler. She’s determined to hate him—as she does all men who imprisoned her in the Palace—but survival depends on them fighting together.

Curious about Makam’s seeming honor and tempted by his untamed allure, she soon falls under his sensual spell, their nights filled with unrestrained passion, their days spent trying to stay alive…an increasingly impossible struggle.

When all appears lost, an unexpected chance allows hope for them to flee together toward a promising future.

Until a shocking secret threatens to tear them apart forever.

TEASERS

Her breath spilled out.She trembled, her teeth chattering.

The pods halted thenturned to the sound.

With her hand pressedagainst her mouth, she warned herself not to panic or give up. She never had inthe Palace no matter what she’d faced. She’d survived.

If she expected to do sohere and return to Zekin and Paige, she’d have to figure this realm out on herown.

First, though, she neededto eat. Dizzy from hunger, her mouth cottony and needing water, she struggledto her knees in the narrow hiding place but didn’t leave.

The pods drifted into andout of her sight, their numbers reduced over time. Whether minutes or hours hadpassed she didn’t know.

Once alone and unable towait any longer, she crept from the crevice then searched the surroundings,hoping to find a drop of water, a plant, or whatever would make her throat andstomach stop hurting.

Red globes speckled agrayish mound. They reminded her of berries she’d eaten in the Palace.

Her mouth watered,wanting their succulent sweetness.

She plucked several freeand crammed them between her lips.

A grainy texture greetedher, the globes hard.

Rocks, not berries.

She spit them out andswiped tears off her cheeks. Crying wouldn’t help her find a portal to get outof here. Caution and a thorough search would.

After edging around therocks, she stopped at a tiny pool resembling water. How to tell for certainthough without tasting it.

Hunkered next to thepuddle, she sniffed. There wasn’t an odor, the same as water. Still…

Not yet convinced shecould drink it, she used a longish rock to stir the liquid, hoping insectswouldn’t rise to the surface.

They didn’t.

Hissing and spitting, theliquid ate away the end of the rock.

She dropped the stone andscooted back on her ass.

“Hungry?”

The thin voice resembledwhistling wind.

On her feet, she gaped atthe pods that followed her here.

The male, who led therest, released his arm and hand from the pod. “Hungry?”

Her stomach rumbled inanswer.

“Try this.” Blinkingslowly, like the rest, he peeled off his bottom lip.

She shuddered, bilerising to her throat.

The male smiled, the areawhere his lower lip had been leaving a gaping, bloodless hole. “It’s good. Thebest bread there is.”

“That’s your lip, notbread!”

Shocked at her outburst,she covered her mouth, wanting to run.

The swaying podsmesmerized her, keeping her in place.

“No, this is bread.” Heoffered the pale flesh to her. “Soft, warm, and sweet. Try it, please. No needto go hungry.”

Her stomach cramped worsethan earlier. She licked her parched lips.

“Eat this and I’ll giveyou more…however much you want.” He peeled off his top lip.

No, not his lip, a pieceof bread. She recognized it now. The same as the rich, chewy kind rulers andelites ate in the Palace.

Starving, she acceptedboth pieces and lifted them to her mouth.

“No!”

The tall guard fromearlier slapped the food from her hand. “Don’t ever touch that.”

The bread landed in adank puddle.

Eeete growled. “What haveyou done!?” Her throaty voice—unused to speaking that hadn’t been allowed inthe Palace—was clear and hard now. “Stay away. That’s mine.”

She scrambled after thefood.

He tugged her back.“Don’t you understand? The dead will lie to you.”

“But you won’t? Bastard.”A word Paige used for men she loathed. “You’re lying to take my food. Find yourown.”

Eeete rammed her shoulderagainst his chest.

He lost his balance andwindmilled his arms to right himself.

She dove for the bread.

He was on her in asecond, shouting, “Eating any of the dead will doom you to an eternity here. Aplace a thousand times worse than what you knew in the Pleasure Palace.”

TRAILER